In recent years skiing has becomve a very popular sport and pastime. Ski areas today are equipped with various types of lift devices for conveying skiers both young and adult up the slopes and mountainsides to starting points for particular runs. Today chair lifts are extensively used for this purpose. In addition, T-bar and rope tows are also used particularly for beginners where the terrain permits such use. Skiing today has grown in popularity to the point where it is now commonplace for children at quite young ages to be included in this pastime with the result that at ski resorts many young children including some under the age of 6 years are found on the slopes both with the parents or friends and in ski schools.
Whereas adults and more experienced younger people have little difficulty getting on and off of chair lifts especially after a little practice, chair lifts are not well suited for small children or young beginners. Furthermore rope tows and T-bar lifts which are frequently used for children and beginners are quite difficult for small children to master. This is particularly true of very young children who have trouble meeting the conflicting forces imposed by the frictional drag on the skis moving over the surface of the snow which tends to hold the child back and the upward pull of a rope tow or the upward thrust of a T-bar forcing the child in the upward direction. The rope tow requires that the child handhold the rope to continue his upward movement and the T-bar usually requires that each T-bar unit accommodate two children each to counter balance the weight of the other as the T-bar advances upwardly. The balance ability, strength, and skill of both is involved in a successful ascent of each pair of children.
The successful use of these devices is made more difficult by ruts that are generated as the snow by the tracks of the skis which ruts at times exert counterforces on the skis which are unexpected and difficult for a child to control. It thus occurs that children sometimes fall when using rope tows or T-bars. They sometimes let go of the rope of a rope tow being unable to longer hold on or are displaced from the T-bar and in either case fall in the path of the next oncoming skier or skiers on the lift. In such cases avoidance of possible injury, necessitates that the falling child move out of the path of the oncoming skiers which is difficult when wearing skis or for the operator to stop the lift altogether until assistance can be provided and injury to the child or children avoided.
A better form of a lift is accordingly greatly needed especially for small children.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a ski lift which is free of the above named difficulties when employed for children, especially small or young children.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a ski lift especially for children on which the skier stands on a flexible sheet-like member which is supported on the surface of the snow and propelled by a frame moved over the surface of the snow while the skier is holding onto a bar or rail carried by said frame.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a ski lift which propells the skier by the movement of a flexible sheet-like member underlying the skis of the skier, and the movement of a holding bar which is grasped by the skier and moves with said member.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a ski lift which does not require the riding skier to translate and control through his body and leg muscles the opposed forces generated when his skis are frictionally resisting forward movement up a slope and the upwardly pulling force is applied to his arms or body which is characteristic of the performance now required when riding a rope tow or a T-bar tow.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a ski lift which is safe for small children and which allows them to readily mount the lift and readily step off the lift when the ascent of the slope is completed.
These and other objects are contemplated for this invention as will readily appear to one skilled in this art as the following description proceeds.